The fleet sailed directly for Hooja's island, coming toanchor at its north-eastern extremity before the flat-topped hill that had been Hooja's stronghold. I sent oneof the prisoners ashore to demand an immediate surrender; but as he told me afterward they wouldn't believe all that he told them, so they congregated on thecliff-top and shot futile arrows at us.

In reply I had five of the feluccas cannonade them. When they scampered away at the sound of the terrificexplosions, and at sight of the smoke and the iron ballsI landed a couple of hundred red warriors and ledthem to the opposite end of the hill into the tunnel thatran to its summit. Here we met a little resistance; but avolley from the muzzle-loaders turned back those whodisputed our right of way, and presently we gained themesa. Here again we met resistance, but at last theremnant of Hooja's horde surrendered.

Juag was with me, and I lost no time in returning tohim and his tribe the hilltop that had been their ancestral home for ages until they were robbed of it byHooja. I created a kingdom of the island, making Juagking there. Before we sailed I went to Gr-gr-gr, chief ofthe beast-men, taking Juag with me. There the three ofus arranged a code of laws that would permit the brute-folk and the human beings of the island to live in peaceand harmony. Gr-gr-gr sent his son with me back toSari, capital of my empire, that he might learn theways of the human beings. I have hopes of turning thisrace into the greatest agriculturists of Pellucidar.When I returned to the fleet I found that one of theislanders of Juag's tribe, who had been absent when wearrived, had just returned from the mainland with thenews that a great army was encamped in the Land ofAwful Shadow, and that they were threatening Thuria. I lost no time in weighing anchors and setting out for thecontinent, which we reached after a short and easyvoyage.

From the deck of the Amoz I scanned the shorethrough the glasses that Perry had brought with him. When we were close enough for the glasses to be ofvalue I saw that there was indeed a vast concourse ofwarriors entirely encircling the walled-village of Goork,chief of the Thurians. As we approached smaller objectsbecame distinguishable. It was then that I discoverednumerous flags and pennants floating above the armyof the besiegers.

I called Perry and passed the glasses to him.

"Ghak of Sari," I said.

Perry looked through the lenses of a moment, and thenturned to me with a smile.

"The red, white, and blue of the empire," he said. "Itis indeed your majesty's army."

It soon became apparent that we had been sightedby those on shore, for a great multitude of warriors hadcongregated along the beach watching us. We came toanchor as close in as we dared, which with our lightfeluccas was within easy speaking-distance of the shore. Ghak was there and his eyes were mighty wide, too;for, as he told us later, though he knew this must bePerry's fleet it was so wonderful to him that he couldnot believe the testimony of his own eyes even whilehe was watching it approach.

To give the proper effect to our meeting I commanded that each felucca fire twenty-one guns as asalute to His Majesty Ghak, King of Sari. Some of thegunners, in the exuberance of their enthusiasm, firedsolid shot; but fortunately they had sufficient good judgment to train their pieces on the open sea, so no harmwas done. After this we landed--an arduous task sinceeach felucca carried but a single light dugout.

I learned from Ghak that the Thurian chieftain,Goork, had been inclined to haughtiness, and had toldGhak, the Hairy One, that he knew nothing of me andcared less; but I imagine that the sight of the fleet andthe sound of the guns brought him to his senses, for itwas not long before he sent a deputation to me, invitingme to visit him in his village. Here he apologized forthe treatment he had accorded me, very gladly sworeallegiance to the empire, and received in return the titleof king.

We remained in Thuria only long enough to arrangethe treaty with Goork, among the other details of whichwas his promise to furnish the imperial army with athousand lidi, or Thurian beasts of burden, and driversfor them. These were to accompany Ghak's army backto Sari by land, while the fleet sailed to the mouth of thegreat river from which Dian, Juag, and I had beenblown.

The voyage was uneventful. We found the rivereasily, and sailed up it for many miles through as richand wonderful a plain as I have ever seen. At the headof navigation we disembarked, leaving a sufficient guardfor the feluccas, and marched the remaining distance toSari.

Ghak's army, which was composed of warriors of allthe original tribes of the federation, showing how successful had been his efforts to rehabilitate the empire,marched into Sari some time after we arrived. Withthem were the thousand lidi from Thuria.

At a council of the kings it was decided that we shouldat once commence the great war against the Mahars,for these haughty reptiles presented the greatest obstacleto human progress within Pellucidar. I laid out a planof campaign which met with the enthusiastic indorsement of the kings. Pursuant to it, I at once despatchedfifty lidi to the fleet with orders to fetch fifty cannon toSari. I also ordered the fleet to proceed at once toAnoroc, where they were to take aboard all the riflesand ammunition that had been completed since theirdeparture, and with a full complement of men to sailalong the coast in an attempt to find a passage to theinland sea near which lay the Mahars' buried city ofPhutra.

Ja was sure that a large and navigable river connectedthe sea of Phutra with the Lural Az, and that, barringaccident, the fleet would be before Phutra as soon as theland forces were.

At last the great army started upon its march. Therewere warriors from every one of the federated kingdoms. All were armed either with bow and arrows or muzzle-loaders, for nearly the entire Mezop contingent had beenenlisted for this march, only sufficient having been leftaboard the feluccas to man them properly. I divided theforces into divisions, regiments, battalions, companies,and even to platoons and sections, appointing the fullcomplement of officers and noncommissioned officers. Onthe long march I schooled them in their duties, and asfast as one learned I sent him among the others as ateacher.

Each regiment was made up of about a thousandbowmen, and to each was temporarily attached a company of Mezop musketeers and a battery of artillery--the latter, our naval guns, mounted upon the broadbacks of the mighty lidi. There was also one full regiment of Mezop musketeers and a regiment of primitivespearmen. The rest of the lidi that we brought with uswere used for baggage animals and to transport ourwomen and children, for we had brought them with us,as it was our intention to march from one Mahar city toanother until we had subdued every Mahar nation thatmenaced the safety of any kingdom of the empire.

Before we reached the plain of Phutra we were discovered by a company of Sagoths, who at first stood togive battle; but upon seeing the vast numbers of ourarmy they turned and fled toward Phutra. The resultof this was that when we came in sight of the hundredtowers which mark the entrances to the buried city wefound a great army of Sagoths and Mahars lined up togive us battle.

At a thousand yards we halted, and, placing ourartillery upon a slight eminence at either flank, we commenced to drop solid shot among them. Ja, who waschief artillery officer, was in command of this branch ofthe service, and he did some excellent work, for hisMezop gunners had become rather proficient by thistime. The Sagoths couldn't stand much of this sort ofwarfare, so they charged us, yelling like fiends. We letthem come quite close, and then the musketeers whoformed the first line opened up on them.

The slaughter was something frightful, but still theremnants of them kept on coming until it was a matterof hand-to-hand fighting. Here our spearmen were ofvalue, as were also the crude iron swords with whichmost of the imperial warriors were armed.

We lost heavily in the encounter after the Sagothsreached us; but they were absolutely exterminated--not one remained even as a prisoner. The Mahars, seeinghow the battle was going, had hastened to the safety oftheir buried city. When we had overcome their gorilla-men we followed after them.

But here we were doomed to defeat, at least temporarily; for no sooner had the first of our troops descendedinto the subterranean avenues than many of them camestumbling and fighting their way back to the surface,half-choked by the fumes of some deadly gas that thereptiles had liberated upon them. We lost a number ofmen here. Then I sent for Perry, who had remaineddiscreetly in the rear, and had him construct a littleaffair that I had had in my mind against the possibilityof our meeting with a check at the entrances to theunderground city.

Under my direction he stuffed one of his cannon fullof powder, small bullets, and pieces of stone, almost tothe muzzle. Then he plugged the muzzle tight with acone-shaped block of wood, hammered and jammed inas tight as it could be. Next he inserted a long fuse. Adozen men rolled the cannon to the top of the stairsleading down into the city, first removing it from itscarriage. One of them then lit the fuse and the wholething was given a shove down the stairway, while thedetachment turned and scampered to a safe distance.

For what seemed a very long time nothing happened. We had commenced to think that the fuse had beenput out while the piece was rolling down the stairway,or that the Mahars had guessed its purpose and extinguished it themselves, when the ground about theentrance rose suddenly into the air, to be followed by aterrific explosion and a burst of smoke and flame thatshot high in company with dirt, stone, and fragments ofcannon.

Perry had been working on two more of these giantbombs as soon as the first was completed. Presently welaunched these into two of the other entrances. Theywere all that were required, for almost immediately afterthe third explosion a stream of Mahars broke from theexits furthest from us, rose upon their wings, and soarednorthward. A hundred men on lidi were despatched inpursuit, each lidi carrying two riflemen in addition to itsdriver. Guessing that the inland sea, which lay not farnorth of Phutra, was their destination, I took a coupleof regiments and followed.

A low ridge intervenes between the Phutra plainwhere the city lies, and the inland sea where the Mahars were wont to disport themselves in the cool waters. Not until we had topped this ridge did we get a view ofthe sea.

Then we beheld a scene that I shall never forget solong as I may live.

Along the beach were lined up the troop of lidi, whilea hundred yards from shore the surface of the water wasblack with the long snouts and cold, reptilian eyes of theMahars. Our savage Mezop riflemen, and the shorter,squatter, white-skinned Thurian drivers, shading theireyes with their hands, were gazing seaward beyond theMahars, whose eyes were fastened upon the same spot. My heart leaped when I discovered that which waschaining the attention of them all. Twenty gracefulfeluccas were moving smoothly across the waters of thesea toward the reptilian horde!

The sight must have filled the Mahars with awe andconsternation, for never had they seen the like of thesecraft before. For a time they seemed unable to do aughtbut gaze at the approaching fleet; but when the Mezopsopened on them with their muskets the reptiles swamrapidly in the direction of the feluccas, evidently thinking that these would prove the easier to overcome. Thecommander of the fleet permitted them to approachwithin a hundred yards. Then he opened on them withall the cannon that could be brought to bear, as well aswith the small arms of the sailors.

A great many of the reptiles were killed at the firstvolley. They wavered for a moment, then dived; nor didwe see them again for a long time.

But finally they rose far out beyond the fleet, andwhen the feluccas came about and pursued them theyleft the water and flew away toward the north.

Following the fall of Phutra I visited Anoroc, where Ifound the people busy in the shipyards and the factoriesthat Perry had established. I discovered something, too,that he had not told me of--something that seemedinfinitely more promising than the powder-factory or thearsenal. It was a young man poring over one of the booksI had brought back from the outer world! He was sittingin the log cabin that Perry had had built to serve as hissleeping quarters and office. So absorbed was he that hedid not notice our entrance. Perry saw the look of astonishment in my eyes and smiled.

"I started teaching him the alphabet when we firstreached the prospector, and were taking out its contents," be explained. "He was much mystified by thebooks and anxious to know of what use they were. WhenI explained he asked me to teach him to read, and so Iworked with him whenever I could. He is very intelligent and learns quickly. Before I left he had madegreat progress, and as soon as he is qualified he is goingto teach others to read. It was mighty hard work gettingstarted, though, for everything had to be translated intoPellucidarian.

"It will take a long time to solve this problem, but Ithink that by teaching a number of them to read andwrite English we shall then be able more quickly to givethem a written language of their own."

And this was the nucleus about which we were tobuild our great system of schools and colleges--thisalmost naked red warrior, sitting in Perry's little cabinupon the island of Anoroc, picking out words letter byletter from a work on intensive farming. Now we have--

But I'll get to all that before I finish.

While we were at Anoroc I accompanied Ja in anexpedition to South Island, the southernmost of the threelargest which form the Anoroc group--Perry had givenit its name--where we made peace with the tribe therethat had for long been hostile toward Ja. They were nowglad enough to make friends with him and come into thefederation. From there we sailed with sixty-five feluccasfor distant Luana, the main island of the group wheredwell the hereditary enemies of Anoroc.

Twenty-five of the feluccas were of a new and largertype than those with which Ja and Perry had sailed onthe occasion when they chanced to find and rescueDian and me. They were longer, carried much largersails, and were considerably swifter. Each carried fourguns instead of two, and these were so arranged thatone or more of them could be brought into action nomatter where the enemy lay.

The Luana group lies just beyond the range of visionfrom the mainland. The largest island of it alone isvisible from Anoroc; but when we neared it we foundthat it comprised many beautiful islands, and that theywere thickly populated. The Luanians had not, of course,been ignorant of all that had been going on in thedomains of their nearest and dearest enemies. Theyknew of our feluccas and our guns, for several of theirriding-parties had had a taste of both. But their principalchief, an old man, had never seen either. So, when hesighted us, he put out to overwhelm us, bringing withhim a fleet of about a hundred large war-canoes,loaded to capacity with javelin-armed warriors. It waspitiful, and I told Ja as much. It seemed a shame tomassacre these poor fellows if there was any way out ofit.

To my surprise Ja felt much as I did. He said he hadalways hated to war with other Mezops when there wereso many alien races to fight against. I suggested thatwe hail the chief and request a parley; but when Jadid so the old fool thought that we were afraid, andwith loud cries of exultation urged his warriors uponus.

So we opened up on them, but at my suggestioncentered our fire upon the chief's canoe. The result wasthat in about thirty seconds there was nothing left ofthat war dugout but a handful of splinters, while its crew--those who were not killed--were struggling in thewater, battling with the myriad terrible creatures thathad risen to devour them.

We saved some of them, but the majority died just ashad Hooja and the crew of his canoe that time oursecond shot capsized them.

Again we called to the remaining warriors to enterinto a parley with us; but the chief's son was there andhe would not, now that he had seen his father killed. Hewas all for revenge. So we had to open up on the bravefellows with all our guns; but it didn't last long at that,for there chanced to be wiser heads among the Luaniansthan their chief or his son had possessed. Presently, anold warrior who commanded one of the dugouts surrendered. After that they came in one by one untilall had laid their weapons upon our decks.

Then we called together upon the flag-ship all ourcaptains, to give the affair greater weight and dignity,and all the principal men of Luana. We had conqueredthem, and they expected either death or slavery; butthey deserved neither, and I told them so. It is alwaysmy habit here in Pellucidar to impress upon these savagepeople that mercy is as noble a quality as physicalbravery, and that next to the men who fight shoulderto shoulder with one, we should honor the brave menwho fight against us, and if we are victorious, awardthem both the mercy and honor that are their due.

By adhering to this policy I have won to the federation many great and noble peoples, who under theancient traditions of the inner world would have beenmassacred or enslaved after we had conquered them;and thus I won the Luanians. I gave them their freedom,and returned their weapons to them after they hadsworn loyalty to me and friendship and peace with Ja,and I made the old fellow, who had had the good senseto surrender, king of Luana, for both the old chief andhis only son had died in the battle.

When I sailed away from Luana she was includedamong the kingdoms of the empire, whose boundarieswere thus pushed eastward several hundred miles.

We now returned to Anoroc and thence to the mainland, where I again took up the campaign against theMahars, marching from one great buried city to anotheruntil we had passed far north of Amoz into a countrywhere I had never been. At each city we were victorious, killing or capturing the Sagoths and driving theMahars further away.

I noticed that they always fled toward the north. TheSagoth prisoners we usually found quite ready to transfer their allegiance to us, for they are little more thanbrutes, and when they found that we could fill theirstomachs and give them plenty of fighting, they werenothing loath to march with us against the next Maharcity and battle with men of their own race.

Thus we proceeded, swinging in a great half-circlenorth and west and south again until we had come backto the edge of the Lidi Plains north of Thuria. Herewe overcame the Mahar city that had ravaged the Landof Awful Shadow for so many ages. When we marchedon to Thuria, Goork and his people went mad with joyat the tidings we brought them.

During this long march of conquest we had passedthrough seven countries, peopled by primitive humantribes who had not yet heard of the federation, andsucceeded in joining them all to the empire. It wasnoticeable that each of these peoples had a Mahar citysituated near by, which had drawn upon them for slavesand human food for so many ages that not even inlegend had the population any folk-tale which did not insome degree reflect an inherent terror of the reptilians.

In each of these countries I left an officer and warriorsto train them in military discipline, and prepare themto receive the arms that I intended furnishing them asrapidly as Perry's arsenal could turn them out, for wefelt that it would be a long, long time before we shouldsee the last of the Mahars. That they had flown northbut temporarily until we should be gone with our greatarmy and terrifying guns I was positive, and equally surewas I that they would presently return.

The task of ridding Pellucidar of these hideous creatures is one which in all probability will never be entirelycompleted, for their great cities must abound by thehundreds and thousands of the far-distant lands that nosubject of the empire has ever laid eyes upon.

But within the present boundaries of my domainthere are now none left that I know of, for I am surewe should have heard indirectly of any great Maharcity that had escaped us, although of course the imperialarmy has by no means covered the vast area which Inow rule.

After leaving Thuria we returned to Sari, where theseat of government is located. Here, upon a vast, fertileplateau, overlooking the great gulf that runs into thecontinent from the Lural Az, we are building the greatcity of Sari. Here we are erecting mills and factories. Here we are teaching men and women the rudiments ofagriculture. Here Perry has built the first printing-press,and a dozen young Sarians are teaching their fellows toread and write the language of Pellucidar.

We have just laws and only a few of them. Our peopleare happy because they are always working at something which they enjoy. There is no money, nor is anymoney value placed upon any commodity. Perry and Iwere as one in resolving that the root of all evil shouldnot be introduced into Pellucidar while we lived.

A man may exchange that which he produces forsomething which he desires that another has produced;but he cannot dispose of the thing he thus acquires. Inother words, a commodity ceases to have pecuniaryvalue the instant that it passes out of the hands of itsproducer. All excess reverts to government; and, as thisrepresents the production of the people as a government,government may dispose of it to other peoples in exchange for that which they produce. Thus we are establishing a trade between kingdoms, the profits fromwhich go to the betterment of the people--to buildingfactories for the manufacture of agricultural implements,and machinery for the various trades we are graduallyteaching the people.

Already Anoroc and Luana are vying with oneanother in the excellence of the ships they build. Eachhas several large ship-yards. Anoroc makes gunpowderand mines iron ore, and by means of their ships theycarry on a very lucrative trade with Thuria, Sari, andAmoz. The Thurians breed lidi, which, having thestrength and intelligence of an elephant, make excellentdraft animals.

Around Sari and Amoz the men are domesticating thegreat striped antelope, the meat of which is most delicious. I am sure that it will not be long before theywill have them broken to harness and saddle. The horsesof Pellucidar are far too diminutive for such uses, somespecies of them being little larger than fox-terriers.

Dian and I live in a great palace overlooking the gulf. There is no glass in our windows, for we have no windows, the walls rising but a few feet above the floor-line,the rest of the space being open to the ceilings; but wehave a roof to shade us from the perpetual noon-daysun. Perry and I decided to set a style in architecturethat would not curse future generations with the whiteplague, so we have plenty of ventilation. Those of thepeople who prefer, still inhabit their caves, but manyare building houses similar to ours.

At Greenwich we have located a town and an observatory--though there is nothing to observe but thestationary sun directly overhead. Upon the edge of theLand of Awful Shadow is another observatory, fromwhich the time is flashed by wireless to every corner ofthe empire twenty-four times a day. In addition to thewireless, we have a small telephone system in Sari. Everything is yet in the early stages of development;but with the science of the outer-world twentiethcentury to draw upon we are making rapid progress, andwith all the faults and errors of the outer world to guideus clear of dangers, I think that it will not be long beforePellucidar will become as nearly a Utopia as one mayexpect to find this side of heaven.

Perry is away just now, laying out a railway-line fromSari to Amoz. There are immense anthracite coal-fieldsat the head of the gulf not far from Sari, and the railwaywill tap these. Some of his students are working on alocomotive now. It will be a strange sight to see an ironhorse puffing through the primeval jungles of the stoneage, while cave bears, saber-toothed tigers, mastodonsand the countless other terrible creatures of the past lookon from their tangled lairs in wide-eyed astonishment.

We are very happy, Dian and I, and I would not returnto the outer world for all the riches of all its princes. Iam content here. Even without my imperial powers andhonors I should be content, for have I not that greatest ofall treasures, the love of a good woman--my wondrousempress, Dian the Beautiful?